Engineering Out Loud

Why should robots have artificial social intelligence? According to Heather Knight, assistant professor of computer science, if robots are going to help in hospitals or work with people in factories, they will need to be adapted to our social conventions.

For robots to be more useful around people, they'll need to go where we go. But how? Associate Professor  Jonathan Hurst thinks the answer is simple. Walking. But actually making a walking robot is no simple feat.

For robots to be more useful around people, they'll need to go where we go. But how? Associate Professor  Jonathan Hurst thinks the answer is simple. Walking. But actually making a walking robot is no simple feat.

Can we trust artificial intelligence to make good decisions? The answer is a resounding maybe. More and more, society and individuals are entrusting AI to make potentially life-changing decisions. Rather than putting blind trust in the judgment of these remarkable systems, Alan Fern and a team of computer scientists want to reveal their reasoning processes.

How do you combine ethics, policy, and practicality into the design of revolutionary  robotics and artificial intelligence systems? Researchers Kagan Tumer and Tom Dietterich are collaborating to find out as they help lead the Oregon State Collaborative Robotics and Intelligent Systems Institute . BONUS CONTENT The Promise and Peril of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics symposium CoRIS Artificia...

Geoff Hollinger , associate professor of mechanical engineering, is teaching underwater robots to use human preferences to take on risk as they complete their scientific missions. https://engineering.oregonstate.edu/season-1-data-science-and-engineering/sea-and-sky-s1e2  

What can be done to protect workers in one of the most dangerous industries on Earth? For much of his career, John Gambatese has studied, developed and evaluated a wide range of options designed to keep construction workers out of harm's way.

Advances in 3D graphics have made movies and video games more realistic, but can also have an impact on science. Associate Professor Eugene Zhang and Assistant Professor Yue Zhang describe their research to help medical doctors better target cancerous tumors by using 3D modeling and simulation. BONUS MATERIAL Associate Professor Eugene Zhang's website . Associate Professor (Senior Research) Yue Zh...

How can we help in the fight against Parkinson's disease? Harriet Nembhard and her colleagues developed a sensor system to detect the disease early on, opening the door to earlier treatment and improved quality of life. Nembhard is the head of the School of Mechanical, Industrial, and Manufacturing Engineering and Eric R. Smith Professor of Engineering.   BONUS CONTENT Michael J. Fox profile in  T...

Aid workers put their lives on the line to treat patients with Ebola. Can robots help make their jobs a little easier and allow more people to survive the disease? Bill Smart, professor of robotics at Oregon State University, is exploring how robots may be most useful during disease outbreaks. BONUS CONTENT Doctors Without Borders Oregon State's simulated Ebola treatment unit https://engineering.o...

What makes a frog's tongue sticky, or a snake's skin slippery? Joe Baio, assistant professor of bioengineering, looks to nature for substances that could provide clues to developing new biomedical adhesives and anti-fouling surfaces. BONUS CONTENT The Baio Lab home page " Snake Scales " video featuring Joe Baio Press release https://engineering.oregonstate.edu/season-8-health-and-safety/sticky-and...

Ever wonder why so many truckers park their rigs on highway off-ramps, in retail store parking lots and at other odd locations? It's not their first choice, and it's not the safest choice either, but sometimes it's their only choice. Research by Sal Hernandez reveals that the national truck parking shortage takes an enormous toll on people and commerce.

How can we support nuclear medicine efforts that help more than 40,000 people in the U.S. everyday? Researchers at the Oregon State University College of Engineering have developed a way to produce the much-needed radioisotope technetium-99m using small research reactors like the one here at the university. BONUS CONTENT The Oregon State TRIGA Reactor Northwest Medical Isotopes " Bringing medical...

Can turning seawater into drinking water be a cost-effective way to  provide clean, fresh water for the growing numbers of people facing water scarcity? Bahman Abbasi, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, is taking up that challenge with a mobile, modular, solar-powered, desalination system. Bonus content OSU-Cascades researcher awarded $2 million to develop solar-powered desalination te...

How can we remove toxic contaminants like TNT from groundwater?  Jack Istok  and Mandy Michalsen are using pioneering bioremediation and bioaugmentation methods developed here at Oregon State to restore the groundwater at the Umatilla Chemical Depot. BONUS CONTENT Underground Story of Water in Oregon Umatilla Army Depot Superfund Site Groundwater Research Lab " Clean Water for a Thirsty Region " "...

How do you ensure a product designed for the developing world is useful for the people it's intended to help? A team of researchers, led by Nordica MacCarty, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, is combining engineering with anthropology in field tests of a water purification system.  

How can students at Oregon State improve access clean water for rural communities around the world? We hear from three students who worked in Nicaragua and Cambodia on projects that  changed people's lives -- including their own.

How long will the world's supply of clean fresh water last? Just the fact that we have to ask that question is enough to start worrying, as threats from pollution, climate change, and overpopulation continue to get worse. Fortunately, researchers like Tyler Radniecki are at the vanguard of the search for solutions to revive and restore this precious resource.

How can we clean up pollution from toxic chemicals that have seeped into the groundwater, hundreds of feet below the surface? Lewis Semprini, Distinguished Professor of environmental engineering, discusses strategies for bioremediation, using microorganisms to break down dangerous chemicals into harmless end-products. BONUS CONTENT Clean and Sustainable Technology Initiative Workshop A Vision of C...

How does culture influence engineering design? Two seniors in civil engineering tell about how they incorporated their research on the culture of Ethiopia into the design of a housing structure, an irrigation system, and a restroom.

Javier Calvo-Amodio, Sage Kittelman, and Siqi Wang examine how teams and their communications function as systems within large, complex organizations. They are working with Boeing to understand how those systems can be improved to make manufacturing more efficient. https://engineering.oregonstate.edu/season-6-student-research/engineering-culture-problem-solving-s6e5  

Can clean and renewable energy sources like wind and solar power reduce our dependence on fossil fuels? One major challenge is figuring out how to make that energy available when the sun isn't shining and the wind isn't blowing. Lynza Sprowl, a chemical engineering Ph. D. student, says the key is building better batteries. BONUS CONTENT Showcase winners tackle 21st century problems  (CBEE News)  I...

Will a new breed of highly mobile, radiation-resistant soft robots become automated work horses for the nuclear industry—or save the day during nuclear disasters? A team of graduate students from Oregon State University wants to make sure they're up to the task.    

How can two undergraduates impact the health of people with mental illness? Inspired by her own experience with bipolar disorder, Alison Bowden from Oregon State University created an app to help manage the daily challenges of living with mental illness. She co-founded Wellio with Houston Morgan from Arizona State University .

How do you quickly calculate a worker's radiation skin dose in the event of exposure? VARSKIN--maintained and updated at Oregon State--is one of the main computer codes used by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and undergrad Logan Anspach's peer-reviewed paper examines how it stacks up against other tools.